Vacuum forming rc bodies

[Frh076 2]

Im considering starting to vacuum form rc bodies. Do anyone have any tips? I think I can make the frame myself, but I don't know how powerful the motor has to be, or where to get the lexan. Also, do anyone know if rc bodies like the tamiya R8 will shape well?

[evssv69 378]

Only 1 way to find out dude...not much help i know 

[max69vk 708]

There's a few threads on the forum from people who've tried to do it themselves, lets just say its not easy, results were very mixed, & the cost to setup pretty much negates any benefits of doing it yourself. If you still want to do it I'd say buying a 2nd hand machine whilst still expensive, is probably the best route to go.

[TWINSET 1793]

Try this one;

 

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

My rc club friend, has built one of these, we are using 1/5 bodies and using very thin plexiglass. Dont know much about that, but I can ask for example what material was used to make the form etc, but you will need at least one new shell to make the form.

[evssv69 378]

56 minutes ago, Fabia130vRS said:

My rc club friend, has built one of these, we are using 1/5 bodies and using very thin plexiglass. Dont know much about that, but I can ask for example what material was used to make the form etc, but you will need at least one new shell to make the form.

What 1/5th bodies has he done?

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

The FG BMW M3 only.

the idea is to make also the Fiat 1000TCR and maybe some 1:10 scales

[Frh076 2]

2 hours ago, TWINSET said:

Try this one;

 

I've just read through the whole thing,  but I'm still looking for advice. For example I don't know where to get the right lexan for cheap

[Frh076 2]

3 hours ago, max69vk said:

There's a few threads on the forum from people who've tried to do it themselves, lets just say its not easy, results were very mixed, & the cost to setup pretty much negates any benefits of doing it yourself. If you still want to do it I'd say buying a 2nd hand machine whilst still expensive, is probably the best route to go.

It's Christmas soon, and I have nothing else I want, so to some extent money is not a problem. Also, I don't plan on getting a cheaper shell, more around having more te and fun making it😀

[Nobbi1977 1793]

Vacuum forming the shells is the easy bit. Making a buck is the harder part.

We have a machine at work for forming but for real detail you need a buck that is vented and also can expand and contract to release the body if there are undercut details. 

 

[Frh076 2]

Wount the holes show up in the plastic?

[Frh076 2]

31 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said:

Vacuum forming the shells is the easy bit. Making a buck is the harder part.

We have a machine at work for forming but for real detail you need a buck that is vented and also can expand and contract to release the body if there are undercut details. 

 

How do i make this buck? (Buck is the hard shape you form on, right?). Is there a specific material I can use?

[Nobbi1977 1793]

14 minutes ago, Frh076 said:

Wount the holes show up in the plastic?

Very small fine hole will not show up and they allow the vacuum to get in to all the details and suck down

10 minutes ago, Frh076 said:

How do i make this buck? (Buck is the hard shape you form on, right?). Is there a specific material I can use?

Wood on a 3D mill can work well or some have tried plaster of Paris in another mould to copy an existing shell. 

I have though about going down this route but unless you are copying a shell that is no longer available the cost far out weight the advantages and the machines are large and not much use for anything else. 

Dont want to put you off but there are other fun things to try that might be more fun and less money and space killing.

How about soda blasting paint off old shell without damaging them? (Disclaimer- never tried this and no idea if it would work)

[Yalson 514]

Back when I used to race 1:32 slot cars, one of my friends from the club occasionally made his own body moulds. I don't honestly know how it was done (presumably he made a basic mould which was roughly the right shape, then sanded it down to the right proportions and somehow scratched in the details like intakes and panel lines) but he used plaster to make them and then sent them to another chap who had a machine for producing the bodies. The bucks were rather lovely things in their own right, though. I wish I had a picture to show you.

[yogi-bear 2337]

howdy, that vac forming thread above is mine. For getting the cheapest material, I source directly from a plastic sheet supplier. What country are you in, I could help look some up suppliers. Sheets usually come in 1220 mm x 2440 mm. I'd prefer to vac form the car bodies in 0.75 mm polycarbonate, but can't seem to get that in Australia, so I've ended either going with 1.5mm roofing grade polycarbonate, or using PETG. PETG is really easy to form, and probably would me a good starting point, but not as durable as polycarbonate. I've also tried to form ABS, great if you want to work the body afterwards too. Another products is HIPS, or High Impact PolyStyrene (is a component of ABS). Easy to work with and vac form, but not a good choice for a basher vehicle.

As for making the vac former, if you stick with PETG or HIPS initially, you'd get away with using a vacuum cleaner and some sort of basic heating setup. Polycarbonate and ABS, you'll need good heat control and good vacuum, thats why I ended up upgrading to a pump, chamber and expanding the heating at the top. I've still got planned upgrades for my vac former, which I'm hoping to get back into in the new year.

As for making the buck, I'm trying 3 main ways, machining my own bodies, plaster casting existing bodies, and 3D printing and making a buck from that. You could also scratch build the body, but it's a lot of work, or try a combination of machining and scratch building, which was my first attempt on the Volvo.

With cnc and 3D printing you will be limited to what you can download or draw yourself. This is my cnc'd Volvo Estate, but the original model  I downloaded wasn't the best, so lots to fix up. As I don't have a lot of 3D modelling skills I'm waiting on a mate to tidy up the model a bit and then I will get back into this project sometime in the new year.

 

My current plan of attack is to 3D print and then resin cast. Eg this Ford Escort Mk 2

 

Happy to answer any questions on what I've done

[Frh076 2]

10 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

howdy, that vac forming thread above is mine. For getting the cheapest material, I source directly from a plastic sheet supplier. What country are you in, I could help look some up suppliers. Sheets usually come in 1220 mm x 2440.

I live in Norway. And I wanted to use a vacuum cleaner for vacuum. Would that not work for polycarbonate? In that case, are the other types usable? Can they be driven and painted with ps?

[yogi-bear 2337]

I think you will find it difficult to vac form polycarbonate with a vacuum cleaner. Although it will depend on the shape, lots of detail will make it harder. Polycarbonate also has a small window for heating. I found PETG the easiest and it's still reasonably strong. Be careful with PS paints on PEGT though, search for Retro Racing on these forums for why.

If you do try polycarbonate, make sure to warm it first, otherwise you will get bubbles in it from the moisture escaping.

[Frh076 2]

Qhat sort of paint can i use?

[Kevin_Mc 411]

I’m not really adding anything new to the thread but i looked i to making a vacum former a few years ago. I had a spare electric oven that was next to brand new sitting in my shed to use as a heat source and had plans on making the former attached to a peice where the hob would sit above but that was the easy part. 

What put me off was the time and cost of making the bucks and getting them to look good. I still might do it one day though. 

[yogi-bear 2337]

On 12/8/2018 at 9:52 PM, Frh076 said:

Qhat sort of paint can i use?

I have used acrylic based paints, but I would do a test first as some paints seemed not to worked so well.

 

[matman 1499]

On 8 December 2018 at 7:52 PM, Frh076 said:

Qhat sort of paint can i use?

Faskolor is the go . Water based paints only .. Is the rule of thumb for  PETG .

[Kevin_Mc 411]

@yogi-bear love that mk2 Escort  

[yogi-bear 2337]

21 hours ago, Kevin_Mc said:

@yogi-bear love that mk2 Escort  

thanks, that was a downloaded file from Thingiverse and printed on a relatively cheap 3D printer (Anycubic i3 MEGA in PLA). There are lots of other bodies available for download, but the amount of work you have to do to get a good print and post processing varies considerably.

Have you given any more thought to vac forming? Plaster casting an existing shell is a pretty straight forward process, just pick a shell (at least initially anyway) that doesn't have any under cuts, or you'll have to cut the shell off.

[Frh076 2]

I still want to vacuum form. I just have a problem of not finding any cheap material in Norway. The only thing I have found costs 400$ for 2x3 meter

[yogi-bear 2337]

1 hour ago, Frh076 said:

I still want to vacuum form. I just have a problem of not finding any cheap material in Norway. The only thing I have found costs 400$ for 2x3 meter

yikes, that is expensive. 0.75 mm clear PETG sheets at 1.2m x 2.4 m where costing me $33AUD, and 1 mm ABS was slightly dearer.